{"id":7614,"date":"2017-07-28T16:52:24","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T16:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/?p=6385"},"modified":"2017-07-28T16:52:24","modified_gmt":"2017-07-28T16:52:24","slug":"western-europe-forget-the-us-heres-where-medical-marijuana-is-really-taking-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/western-europe-forget-the-us-heres-where-medical-marijuana-is-really-taking-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Europe: Forget The US. Here\u2019s Where Medical Marijuana Is Really Taking Off"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/western-europe-forget-the-us-heres-where-medical-marijuana-is-really-taking-off\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>There&#8217;s a groundswell of support for cannabis legalisation in the United States, with 29 states, as well as Washington D.C. approved for medicinal cannabis, and eight for lifestyle use.<\/p>\n<p>Things are farther ahead in Canada. Regulations for production and sales have been in place for over three years, and the federal government has introduced a timeline to full federal legalisation for lifestyle use in July 2018. Capacity in Canada for lifestyle alone is projected to reach &#8220;5 billion dollars per year to start,&#8221; according to a recent report from Deloitte.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, while many investors focus on opportunities stemming from Canada&#8217;s upcoming legalization \u2013 plus the longer-term investment potential in what will likely be a growing number of American states \u2013 they are missing the global shift in cannabis towards Western Europe. That&#8217;s where the action is really heating up.<\/p>\n<p>The population of the United States is approximately 325 million. There are 35 million living in Canada. But compare that to the European Union&#8217;s population of 510 million. Germany, with more than 80 million people alone, legalized medicinal cannabis in January of this year. Add that to Italy&#8217;s nascent existing medicinal cannabis program.<\/p>\n<p><b><i><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<div>&#8220;European markets are increasingly important to the cannabis sector. Each has a well-funded medical system, residents who seek natural and complementary therapies, and a government-supported mandate to stop the rising tide of opiate addiction related to chronic pain treatment.&#8221;<\/div>\n<p><b><i><\/i><\/b><br \/>\nThese European markets are increasingly important to the cannabis sector. Each has a well-funded medical system, residents who seek natural and complementary therapies, and a government-supported mandate to stop the rising tide of opiate addiction related to chronic pain treatment.<\/p>\n<p>Taken together, these and other European examples show that we&#8217;re seeing traditionally conservative attitudes shift as medicinal cannabis is legalized.<\/p>\n<p>That also means investors in cannabis who focus solely on North America are missing the huge potential found across the Atlantic.<\/p>\n<p>Those investors restricting their cannabis investments to this side of the ocean \u2013 and in the United States in particular \u2013 are left navigating an array of legislation on a state-by-state basis, prohibitive out-of-state investment regulations, and a prohibitive tax code. These investors miss the boat as they churn through such choppy water.<\/p>\n<p>In Germany, cannabis will be produced by licenced producers and distributed to pharmacies like any other medication, with each prescription eligible for full reimbursement from health insurance.<\/p>\n<p>In their patient-driven markets, Germans, Italians and other Europeans are demanding the alternative of cannabis over opiates.<\/p>\n<p>In our view, people who think opiates are the only answer to pain relief have a similar mis-perception as people who still think medicinal cannabis is nothing more than smoking up with their doctor&#8217;s permission.<\/p>\n<p>They are both wrong.<\/p>\n<p>In short, medical cannabis is about personalized and effective medicine. It&#8217;s not about getting high.<\/p>\n<p>The Europeans know that, as we do in North America.<\/p>\n<p>As Germany moves smartly down this path of medicinal cannabis, the rest of Europe will soon follow. And to ignore 500 million people in a stable economy is a mistake.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re at the start of the global revolution. We all need to be looking to Europe next.<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/western-europe-forget-the-us-heres-where-medical-marijuana-is-really-taking-off.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>News Moderator: Ron Strider <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a><br \/>\nFull Article: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2017\/07\/19\/medical-marijuana-is-really-taking-off-in-europe-commentary.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Medical marijuana is really taking off in Europe-commentary<\/a><br \/>\nAuthor: Benjamin Ward<br \/>\nContact: <a href=\"http:\/\/cnbcllca.custhelp.com\/app\/ask\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ask a Question<\/a><br \/>\nPhoto Credit: Flickr<br \/>\nWebsite: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stock Markets, Business News, Financials, Earnings &#8211; CNBC<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There&#8217;s a groundswell of support for cannabis legalisation in the United States, with 29 states, as well as Washington D.C.&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/2017\/07\/western-europe-forget-us-heres-medical-marijuana-really-taking-off\/\" class=\"read-more\">[Read More]<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1616,9,1,3],"tags":[4184],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7614"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7614\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}